Old Fashioned Prison Garb

A few weeks ago, Erin and I went to Fremont, Sandusky's county seat for a reentry fair. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but people released from Ohio's prisons are an incredibly underserved population in terms of benefits. Finding a job in Ohio is hard enough without having a felony on your record. These people need support and often don't ask for it.

So, the reentry fair! There were dozens of agencies and organizations there to help people being released from prison foster a productive life on the outside. And we were there to make sure people knew about The Benefit Bank and got food assistance and other benefits as soon as possible.

The locals jails actually drove some currently incarcerated people to the event to get a head start on the entire reentry process. Now, Erin and I aren't allowed to electronically submit applications until these guys are out of the clink. That's a no-no. But we can fill out the applications and hand over a physical copy that will be ready to go out the door whenever the client is ready to go out the door. It's one less step. And we were happy to help these clients leave with six pieces of paper that would likely transform into $200 in SNAP Benefits every month.

I would like to make one aside. The prisoners at the event were all wearing the same uniform. That makes sense. Now imagine that uniform. What did you think of? I always associate prisoners with bright orange. But that wasn't the case in Fremont. See for yourself:

robble, robble

I did not picture that. This amazed me. People still have the black and white horizontal striped uniforms? I have literally never seen these before outside the world of cartoons. When I see these clothes, I picture someone tying a lady to railroad tracks or stealing a big sack with a dollar sign on it.

I think I prefer the orange. It looks good. Yellow works too.

the one-armed man was probably eligible for Medicaid